Method and apparatus for skin absorption enhancement and transdermal drug delivery

摘要

A system for enhancing absorption of a substance provided on a region of a patient's skin, includes a probe configured to provide the substance to the region of the patient's skin. The probe includes an array of electrodes provided on a head of the probe. The probe also includes a substance holding unit that temporarily holds the substance to be provided on the region of the patient's skin. The probe further includes a pulse generator that generates a sequence of bursts of electrical pulses to the array of electrodes that are disposed against the region of the patient's skin, so as to provide the bursts of electrical pulses to the region of the patient's skin. The probe also includes a substance applying unit that transfers the substance from the substance holding unit to the head of the probe. The pulse generator provides for pulses to be output in alternate polarities in each of the sequence of bursts.